The Forever
by morgankit
Summary: When Noodle returns to KONG in early 2004, there are many things that Noodle needs take care of as everyone comes home to record both with the music, and with her band mates.
1. Intro

**The Forever  
Prologue / Intro  
Fandom:** Gorillaz  
**Genre:** General/Drama  
**Rating:** PG-13  
Notes: This started out as a series of drabbles in October of 2005. It consists of 23 chapters, and I hope to finish it before the end of this year. Thanks very much for all the kind reveiws.

- - - - -

You couldn't really tell when the seasons changed in Essex, where KONG studios lay atop a large hill, overlooking the plains and the fresh grass on one side, and crispy, decaying grass on the other side. It was wet there. So wet that she could not remember an evening when it did not drizzle. The rain would induce strange happenings in the fields of KONG. The undead would come to surface, washed up by the new rains, straining for life and flesh.

It was a good thing that Noodle got back to KONG first. She tampered with the studio electronics and devised a system to ward offending zombies that had gotten loose in the building.

Exhausted as she was when she had returned from Osaka, Noodle, in her energetic youth, found the determination to make KONG livable by spending most of April cleaning out the main rooms of the studio and assembling a nutrition compartment to keep all non-zombies immune. At the end of everyday, the young girl locked the main doors, closed the kitchen shut, and decontaminated her room before she would fall onto her futon and try to scribble in her notebook unless she fell asleep immediately.

Though she couldn't contact anyone with her mobile (the network used to be paid from the record company, and since late 2003 they had shut down their network) Noodle tried to contact her fellow band mates through internet.

She had no luck talking to them; Russell had gone AWOL in California, 2D was somewhere in Southern Britain, and Murdoc had apparently been arrested in Mexico. Noodle took to the honors of shutting down KONG for renovation and waited.

She felt like she had to wait for a very long time.


	2. People

**The Forever  
People**

**- - - - - - **

2D came into the building with a loud bang, dressed in a blue military jacket and long, faded blue-ish brown hair, he made sure that he was announced in some way to whom ever happened to be in the room at the time. Bouncing up to the studio kitchen, 2D raised his arms and sang like a barbershop quartet:

"'eloooooo!" In a high note E.

"D-kun!" Noodle shouted as she pounced upon him, almost breaking his back when he was thrown to the ground and she straddled his waist.

2D – now taller, his face more rounded, seemingly creepier with his dark eyes and pale skin – tussled Noodle's hair (he noticed it had gotten longer and "purpler"), and stole himself to the nearest mini-fridge to grab a beer. She asked him in broken English so many questions that 2D, too distracted by how big Noodle had gotten, didn't think to answer her.

And then it started to come back together. It was just the two of them for a little while, working hard.

It was almost two full weeks after 2D came back to help Noodle out. The two of them believed that there was no way they could get in touch with their other band mates, so it was surprising for Noodle when she had begun her checkup of the carpark one morning to find the Winnebago occupied with blasting music and a shirtless, Cuban-heeled man about to exit the adjacent door.

Murdoc raised his yellowing eyes at his surroundings while in the process of lighting a cigarette, and spotted a girl he thought he knew, but she was suddenly almost unrecognizable. In a speechless state, Murdoc stepped down completely from the small, narrow steps from his Winnebago, and removed the cigarette from his still parted mouth.

The little girl shook the hair from in front of her dark eyes, and tried to smile, but only half way and said, astonished at his presence: "Where did you go?"

Murdoc looked at her from strangely saddened eyes. His mouth drooped into a frown, but as he mentally searched for reasons to explain, he sighed and acted cool, tucking the ciggy in his ear.

"Had a nasty bit of a hangover and ducked some place in London for a while. It ain't nothing for you to worry about, doll." A smirk. He grunted, amusingly. "I'm back!" He shouted hoarsely and he forced his arms out, almost expecting a glomp from the girl, something he usually did not allow her to do.

Noodle nodded and squinted from the smile widening in her features.


	3. Brother

**The Forever  
Brother**

**- - - - - **

August came with overbearing heat just before a long drought in Essex. When Russell stepped up to the gated entrance, engraved with the GORILLAZ logo in warped steel, he noted the rancid stench of something rotting emanating from behind the graveyard site in the fields of KONG.

Perturbed from his stay in America, Russell found it best to return to his former partnership – if he can still understand if it can be called partnership – and travel back to the studio.

Now the building was bigger than he remembered. As he walked into the lobby, he just barely had to turn to the side to enter the elevators and corridors. Perhaps it was the larger interior. Perhaps he had actually lost some of his extra weight.

Russel didn't remember staying in KONG long enough in the past, since the band was always on the go with gigs, tours, interviews, and whatnot. Therefore, he couldn't remember some of the rooms, whether or not they had always been there, or if they have just been renovated. The building had been nearly empty. It seemed vacant to him; there were no sound of life when he entered this afternoon.

As he entered the Kitchen on his room floor, he didn't expect to see a lot of newly purchased food, a few frozen human fingers with eyeballs in zip-lock bags, and a cabinet filled with instant ramen.

Taking a napkin from the kitchen, Russel wiped off the bloodstains from the door handle in the hallway that lead to Noodle's room. The large man slowly opened the door to the Japanese girls room to find it newly renovated and totally redecorated: the walls were covered with posters and calendars, the floors messy with clothes and unlabeled tapes and videos, a lonely mahjong game was left fully set up next to a futon. As he stepped in, his head clanged against the pink paper ceiling lamps that hung a bit too low, making a tiny sound that Russell immediately hushed to make sure he wasn't disturbing anything else.

Noodle, sitting on her knees at the low table next to her MAC, scratched her fingernails on the tabletop. She readjusted her head that lay on her folded arms when she thought she heard a shudder in her room.

Russell opened the partition slightly, but didn't move; he didn't want to ruin Noodle's floor mats with his messy shoes.

She heard his clothes rustle, and tossed her head up in the door's direction.

"Noodle-girl?" He said so sweetly.

Noodle blinked the sleep away from her eyes and tapped her feet on the floor to keep them from falling asleep. She pushed herself from the table and sped to his direction.

"Russeru-niisan…"(1) she said in her broken English, she voice trembling slightly when she collided in a hug with her friend.

- - - - -

**Notes:**  
1) "Niisan" is an affectionate term for "big brother" in Japanese.


	4. Work It Out

**The Forever  
Work It Out**

**Notes:** Whoa. I have never received so many positive reviews at one time. Thanks so much.

- - - - -

When Noodle locked herself inside the studio, she spinned a few demos and four-tracks for six of the thirty-something songs she had written in the last few months. She was more occupied with the fast paced television programmes.

She was disgusted with the news, the reality game shows, the celebrities, the wars and hunger and famine not being treated by government officials. They were liars and schemers. She mourned the dying race of artisans and wonderfully talented people. She searched for intelligent life somewhere out in the world.

Russel was furious when he found out that Noodle had returned to clean up KONG all by herself for the five months that everyone had been absent. This plagued, disease-ridden, cluttered, haunted space of a studio was no place for a girl her age to be in alone for five months. He was angry with Murdoc for ever purchasing such a space. He was angry with 2D for being just less than a hundred miles away and not contacting her. Yet most of all, he was angry at himself.

Too delusional. Russel's awful time in Los Angeles was enough for himself to overlook Noodle's well being for a little more than a few months. However, it was no excuse for him to be away while Noodle stayed here, fending off zombies. It was no place for a young girl.

Now at the age of thirteen, she did seem much more mature, and more so than any of the three of them. It was, in a way, refreshing, that the group had such an anchor, at least for one out of three of them.

When in the studio, Noodle liked to stay quiet until someone called for her, or until she felt obligated to say something. Her conversations ceased when they were working.

"Don't bring food into the studio." She told 2D, when he absent mindedly entered with a slushy and a brownie. She took the slushy from him and set it next to her tea on a flat surface behind the computer. He scoffed down the last of the brownie and rubbed his hands together, getting rid of the crumbs.

Sitting cross legged on the spinning chair, Noodle had a pair of fat headphones on, listening to a few samples. She took them off when 2D patted her shoulders.

"What'cha working on, now?" He asked, sitting open legged on another chair and setting his elbows on his bony knees. He tried to make her let him listen to a few of her demos and read some of her scrap lyrics in days before, but to no avail. She was particularly secretive about this new project.

Today, she pulled the plug to her headphone jack out, releasing a big sound of instruments and rhythm. Drum samples, keyboard tweaking, a fine guitar riff, a hard bass line… no vocals. Just a shiny, dance tune she must have been fooling around with. 2D nodded his head in tune with the drum line, and patted his heels on the floor, making thumping noises against the wood.

"This is one I am… stuck on writing about." She said, sounding a little bashful, or exhausted. She turned the stereo down. "There are no words yet."

2D tussled her hair affectionately. "It'll come to you."

Noodle smiled at him, and switched to another track for him to hear.


	5. Is Everybody In?

**The Forever**

**Is Everybody In?**

Noodle could play her guitar in any atmosphere and be perfectly comfortable. Her strums always started off very soft and timid before she would eventually find a rhythm and matched a few chords that she liked together, suddenly losing her shyness and playing an all out riff. While Murdoc and 2D – despite having a natural talent for recognizing any musical note – had to write scribbles of chords, notes, and lyrics in their books, Noodle could keep everything in her head before she would set it down on a skeleton track.

When she started an ongoing riff, 2D would start humming or singing softly, usually something mumbled and unintelligible. Later, 2D wrote something down, and asked Noodle to play it over and over. Occasionally, Murdoc would start up with a solid bass line, and Noodle would improvise off of whatever he started. Russel spun a few percussion samples and beats on their systems and computers before they all tried to find what fit right for what. Then they would all start recording in the booth.

This was their musical process. It wasn't just something they smacked down in the studio and called it a day.

It was the time that they all could be very agreeable. It was also the time that they could all be very disagreeable.

One night in the studio, Murdoc was fiddling with his bass, headphones on, and was plucking something that Noodle found to be particularly… sinister.

Murdoc kept playing cooperatively when he saw her pick up her guitar and sit near him. Noodle let him get to a certain line before she started her own crooning lines on her acoustic. It was timely; a comfortable setting when both of them played in unison, especially when 2D started right off humming something. The improvisation of fine music Murdoc and Noodle made from one another like they always had was uncanny. They were able to read each other almost flawlessly, their musical though process so similar.

Noodle finished off a fading note and Murdoc ceased playing as well. 2D kept humming softly in the studio with Russ. He clicked a knob on in order to communicate with them through the booth.

"You wanna put that down?" Russel asked. His cool voice came into their headphones.

"Sure," Noodle piped up, her hands absently strumming another set of chords gently with her thumb.

"Wait, wait," Russel fumbled around the keys on the control boards with large hands. "Play that part again, Noodle-girl."

She furrowed her brows just a little bit, and she dipped her head to look at her fingering. She stayed quiet while Russel started up a blank tape. Her slim fingers took their place on the neck and she started strumming with a pick. Noodle played her major chords together for four measures before elongating the last chord for a few more measures, while flicking the pick to the higher strings for a tiny plucking effect whilst she played full chords. Then she started another string of long single notes, all around the neck of her guitar.

She stopped when she thought she had nothing else to play, and Russ stopped the recording. "Those two sets sound completely different." He mused.

"Maybe we could put together..." she stopped, searching for another word. "Integrating them together. I thought when I heard Murdoc-san play those lines…"

"That long part sounds nice by itself, you know," 2D put in. "I think it sounds cool."

"I think it needs a rehearsal," Murdoc murmured, smiling and flicking high notes on his bass, sliding one headphones off his ears and around his neck.

Noodle put away her acoustic and went for her fender behind her stool. Making sure it was tuned properly, she adjusted the tuning knobs and volume on the amplifier before making a big strum…

_BLANG! _Ch'clamp!

"Oop – sorry!" Noodle clamped the strings to stop blaring and adjusted the volume on the amp again, apologizing to 2D in the studio (he had immediately grappled at his ears and bent his head in between his knees because of his migraines). She made sure her guitar was quiet when she sprung back up on the stool she was using.

Russel clicked on a few switches and knobs, making adjustments for the electric guitar recording, and asked her if she wanted another blank tape. She nodded, and 2D leaned over Russel's shoulder when Noodle started to play the long stream of single notes again.

Murdoc let her run to a certain measure and started up the bass line they were playing around. Everything that was now turned electric made a much larger and more magical affect than when Noodle played her acoustic.

Silence in the booth prompted Russel to stop the running tape, and Noodle yawned when she stepped off the stool to put her instruments back into place. Murdoc tossed off his headphones and unplugged his set with his bass set against the wall. They both exited the booth with the door banging behind them. The tall bassist patted Noodle's hair and walked off towards the Studio Kitchen to get himself a drink. Noodle talked with 2D and Russel about what to do with the track and settled to work on it tomorrow afternoon. Russel hurried the young girl off to bed.

Before Noodle entered her room, she finished off a rice cake and kicked her shoes off after closing her door. She plucked the lamp on her floor on and settled herself to sit cross legged on her futon, flicking out her mobile and dialing a long number.

There was an endless ringing, and despite how early in the afternoon it was on the west coast of America, a person answered with a groggy and sleepy mention in his voice. Noodle knew he had been expecting her to call anyway.

"Danger-san? It is Noodle… Yes, I am going to send you a few demo's, and a few new skeleton tracks within the next week… Yes, I am pleased as well, Danger-san."


	6. Interlude

**The Forever  
Interlude**

**Notes:** This one is sort of like, crack, I guess.

- - - - -

With the autumnal equinox, the heat had begun to lessen around Northern Britain, making the landfill less overbearing during the evening. The band never had their meals in the Kitchen, so it would lessen the effects of the stench that could still slide through the creases in the balcony door and windows. They instead, settled themselves in the Studio Kitchen, or even in their own rooms.

Noodle cooked to the best of her ability whenever she could, and whenever she was allowed. Although she was often left without the needed ingredients to cook her favourite Japanese dishes, she was content with instant ramen and curry. Maybe some sliced chicken or meat depending on what flavor of ramen she had.

When no one would cook, 2D was often the one who would order out first. He would sometimes order something after Russel would find something in the kitchen himself, and make enough for everyone. That was fine for plenty of late night snacks.

Noodle sometimes forgot to eat. She was so busy with notes and music work. When she was stuck in the studio for a long time, Russel made a special meal, and ushered her right off to bed when she was finished.

But it was also often when she was working in the booth when evening rolled around, and a quiet atmosphere of working suddenly became something like this:

"Who wants what on they pizza!"

"D, we're not getting pizza again,"

"Why's that?"

"… Get some mushrooms and peppers for me, aye, Stu?"

"No, D, look, we've gotten take out more than enough nights this week. That shit's bad for ya."

"But I hate mushrooms, Murdoc,"

"It's not a question of whether or not _you_ want it, 2D, it's going on _my pizza_."

"Well, what does Noodle-girl want on it?"

"D! We're not getting no pizza!"

An echo of two voices: "Noodle-girl!"

"…Pineapple please!"

"Blech!"

"That can go on D's then, love."

"It's better than yucky mushrooms on it!"

And after an ongoing shouting match between the two other band mates – who both kept a dislike of pineapples – Russel had given up. He wanted some pizza as well.

"Why do not we all get our own different pizza's?"

"Noodle-love, who can eat a whole pizza by himself? Oh, wait,"

"Excuse me, Muds, was that directed at me?"

"At Stu, here, actually. He's got girly hips—"

"Hey!"

"Fine. Four pizza's. Gimme the phone, D."


	7. Feel Good

**The Forever  
Feel Good**

**- - - - -  
**

"_Stuart!_"

The shout from the other side of the hallway near the studio kitchen was so sudden Noodle jumped in her chair. Russel was beside her, and he left his hands still on the panels and looked out the threshold of the doorway to watch for bad movements when Murdoc barged his way through the door. 2D was there to greet the bassist, who was making furious hissing noises and hard clicks on the linoleum from his heeled boots, and he suddenly found himself slammed into the opposite wall.

A visibly fuming Murdoc gripped and shook 2D so hard, a small picture frame trembled from its hook and toppled to the floor. 2D, as a first reaction, left his hands loose and tensed, frightened.

"Where the hell do you get off busting into my Winnie and taking my shit!"

2D's expression went from pure shock and fear to total anger and hostility towards his bassist. His boney hands gripped Murdoc's wrists to try to squeeze the strong hands that held him to the wall. "What the hell are you making a fuss about?" 2D shouted back in his face. "What – I didn't take nothing!"

A sudden pounding shove of 2D against the wall jolted Russel from his chair, and the big man took steps to the Studio Kitchen.

"Don't play dumb with me, you stupid twat! You barged into me Winnie and stole my stash!" Murdoc made another ruthless shove. "I ought to give you what you fucking deserve!" Murdoc drew a hand away from the singer's shirt collar and gave a hit to 2D's nose. A thick trail of blood poured from the singer's nostrils. Stu's head boggled around for a slip second before he sought an opening to smack Murdoc in the face, and broke himself away to stumble and bump into the couch. Murdoc made a move to grapple him before 2D pulled out switchblade from his back pocket.

"Whoa!" Russel sprinted towards 2D and Murdoc to try to stop another oncoming fight, gripping 2D from the back of his shirt and holding Murdoc's shoulders. In the small space of the Studio Kitchen, 2D flailed wildly like a child and escaped from Russel's big grasp, bolting for Murdoc. He stuttered mumbled speech, an unintelligible squeaking of threats and accusations.

Russel moved fast. His arms jolted forward to grab 2D and tossed him to hang over his shoulder, shouting at both 2D and Murdoc to calm them, while the latter two shouted over each other. The huge movements in the next room, since she could see it with the door open, began to annoy Noodle and made her head fall into her hands.

Noodle had a look of distain on her face. She rubbed at her temples and swallowed hard, trying to get herself calm from under the noise. She stepped off her chair and stalked into the next room. Her eyes cast a dark shadow of growing anger. Her nose was a cherry red as she started to sniffle. Her throat clenched shut, but over the chaos between the boys she lived with and the tension in her chest, she found energy to raise her voice from a mumble to a scream:

"Why don't you all stop acting like children, and act like the ADULTS YOU **ARE!**"

Silence was a hard thing to accomplish in the KONG building. There were echoing squishy noises along the corridors and tapping at the windows and there was always flushing of the toilets. The sudden quiet that emitted from Noodle's band mates was queer and eerie. Taken aback from the young girl's outburst, the boys stayed in their tangled places, turning their wide-eyed faces at Noodle.

Russel loosened his grip on the other men when their limbs went limp against his strength. 2D dropped off of Russel's shoulders and his face melted into a look of hurt, his arms hung at his sides, his mouth parted open. Murdoc turned his eyes to the floor and shoved his hands in his pockets.

Russel breathed for a minute, thinking if it was the best choice to touch Noodle and talk to her, or wait for her to calm down herself. The large man stayed in his place, tentatively and awkwardly. He whispered her name.

She sniffed at him and turned to exit the Studio Kitchen. "I'm sorry."

"Hey--, Noodle-babe!"

The slamming of the door answered his call to help her.

Russel huffed, sad and annoyed. He clenched his fists to make an audible cracking of his knuckles.

"Why y'all gotta do this kind of shit, huh?" He said in a hush when he spun around to look at the two adults. "All this fighting you do gets her real upset."

2D fidgeted and crossed his feet to itch a spot on his calve. Long, bony fingers hit his forehead and rubbed at his temples. "I'm sorry, Russ…"

"Damn right you are, D. But it's Noodle, not me. And Muds," Russ jabbed a finger in the direction that Noodle had gone and twisted his head again to see Murdoc's chin on his chest. "I don't know why you can't be at least a little nicer around 2D when we're in front of her."

"You know that ain't gonna happen, Russ," he said with a rasp in his voice, looking at him in the face. "I was angry and I wanted to hit him, that's all. I didn't know Noodle was here."

"It doesn't matter where Noodle is or where Noodle isn't," Russel said with his voice growing harsher. "You can't go busting 'round here anymore to hit D around! You're being a bad influence on her! The both of you!"

Murdoc harrumphed. He kept his eyes closed.

"Go apologize to her." Russel demanded.

"Even if I do, she won't wanna see me." Murdoc said, and he made his way slowly to the door.

2D looked like a kicked puppy in an ally way. His solid black eyes glistened in the florescent lighting and he pouted his bottom lip to try and stop himself from whimpering. He rubbed his bare arms when he felt a shiver, and he turned his head around when Murdoc passed behind him.

"I'll bring you your stash back if you want, Murdoc." He said, meekly.

Murdoc paused with his hand stiff on the doorknob and looked at 2D with hooded eyes. He had that bored, uninterested look plastered on his face. Murdoc didn't pull off a look that would be forgiving, especially to 2D, of all people, but Murdoc, while looking bored and grumpy, his breath that flooded out his nose showed that he was plainly exhausted.

The bassist tilted his head back, and said, "No, Stu. Forget it." And he exited.

- - - - -

Please review. This is where I got stuck.


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